The World: Who wants war

Plus, the A.I. economy’s $3.2 trillion deal frenzy

View in browser|nytimes.com July 9, 2026 By Katrin Bennhold Good morning, world. We’ve written a lot in this newsletter about the reasons President Trump wants the war in Iran to end. It didn’t play out as he’d expected, and it’s been incredibly costly for him, both politically and financially. But there are politics in Iran, too. And the latest escalation of hostilities over the Strait of Hormuz is empowering a faction of hard-liners who opposed the cease-fire. Today, I write about why some in Iran might want the war to continue. Also: $3.2 trillion in A.I. deals A post-colonial football clash Meme couture As the 2026 World Cup nears its end, we want to hear about some of your favorite moments, on and off the pitch. Send us an email for a chance to be featured in The World. Top Iranian officials in Tehran last week. Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times The Iranians who prefer war Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral this week was a dramatic display of grief and defiance. It was also meant to be a show of unity in Iran. That last part hasn’t quite worked out. Hard-line supporters used the occasion to physically attack government officials who have been defending the cease-fire with the United States. On Monday, a crowd tried to tackle President Masoud Pezeshkian during a funeral procession while shouting “death to the appeaser.” He swayed, looking dazed, as his security detail guided him away. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was struck with a rock as he was chased down an alley during the funeral. The attackers, waving flags, cursed him and called for his death. Not long after those incidents, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fired on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks on Pezeshkian and Araghchi were a manifestation of a divide roiling Iran. On one side: the faction that thinks building a better future requires an end to hostilities with the U.S. On the other: hard-liners who would prefer that the country go back to war rather than continue negotiating with a treacherous enemy. An end to the war depends in part on the actions of Trump. But it also requires those in Iran who favor negotiations to prevail in this internal struggle. And the current state of the conflict — which seems to be trapped in a cycle of tit-for-tat attacks and aggressive rhetoric — might well make that harder. Whose leverage? Ever since the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to work toward peace last month, senior Iranian officials and prominent political figures have been fighting openly, my colleague Farnaz Fassihi reports. (Always read Farnaz on Iranian politics.) “I spit on this era where they kill our leader and then we speak of peace with the United States,” one hard-liner strategist recently declared at a rally in Tehran. Instead of negotiations, he called for revenge. I spoke to Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. She told me that the hard-line case rests on the idea that the U.S. doesn’t really want peace — it just wants a pause in the fighting while it prepares for the next war. They see the memorandum of understanding as “essentially a ruse,” she said. “They believe the Americans are playing for time” and that “those who argued for a pragmatic end to the war have been naïve.” Mashhad, Iran, yesterday. Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times From the perspective of Iranian hard-liners, the U.S. has been using this period of relative calm to attempt to take away Iran’s various forms of leverage in the conflict, while trying to retain its own: The U.S. brokered a separate deal between Israel and Lebanon aimed in part at disarming Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, which many in Iran believe could enable Israel to keep its soldiers in Lebanon. It has limited the amount of Iran’s frozen funds it is prepared to release. And it has encouraged tankers in the Strait of Hormuz to take a southern route, along the coast of Oman, rather than respect Iranian demands that all traffic register with its newly minted Hormuz transit authority. The tensions over the strait in particular are fundamental. It is Iran’s primary form of leverage — the tool that allows Tehran to hold the world economy hostage. But the U.S. can’t tolerate that. The question now is whether there’s a way out of this cycle. Politics in flux Iran is navigating these complicated negotiations with the U.S. at a time when its own politics are in flux — largely because Israeli strikes killed the man who once had unquestioned authority over Iran. Now his son is ostensibly in charge. Any new leader would need time to consolidate power. But Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s circumstances are uniquely tricky. Badly hurt in attacks that killed his father, wife and daughter, he has yet to be seen in public, not even at his father’s funeral. He has expressed tentative support for the negotiations, but his absence has allowed those in the hard-line camp to insist that he is being manipulated. The already challenging task of those pushing for peace has been made more difficult by the U.S.’s maximum pressure strategy, Geranmayeh said. The more pressure the U.S. puts on Iran, “the more this face of the Islamic Republic of Iran will double down on maximum resistance,” she said. “We mustn’t forget that, just like in America, in Iran, hard-liners are a minority, but they’re a powerful minority.” Trump might not want to return to war with Iran. But it also might not be entirely up to him. Join the conversation: Share your comments here. MORE TOP NEWS The U.S. and Iran exchanged fire for a second consecutive night yesterday. Jordan, which hosts some U.S. military forces, said it intercepted Iranian missiles in its airspace. The final stage of the funeral procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was in the holy Iranian city of Mashhad. The A.I. economy has created a $3.2 trillion deal-making frenzy. Two weeks after Venezuela’s earthquakes, survivors are digging through ruins with their bare hands to find the bodies of loved ones. WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING Czechs Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova reached the Wimbledon women’s final. Global warming could kill off a third of the plants used by communities in the Amazon. Wally Funk, an accomplished female pilot who became the oldest person to fly in space, died at 87. TOP OF THE WORLD The most clicked link in your newsletter yesterday was a video about the symbols at Khamenei’s funeral. WORLD CUP Winslow Townson/Reuters A post-colonial clash Morocco is looking to defy the odds by taking on France. We have live updates. The underdog, now a powerhouse: Six of Morocco’s players were born in France, illustrating the complex ties between France and its former protectorate. Nike versus Adidas: The two largest sportswear companies in the world are spending millions of dollars in a duel over the future of football. FASHION ERA OF THE DAY Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times Meme couture If a dress doesn’t go viral, does it even matter? This week in Paris, designers like Duran Lantink of Jean Paul Gaultier are making clothes not so much for the customer as for social media, with dresses resembling drainage pipes vomiting yards of tulle. Wearable? Not at all. Ridiculous? Yeah. The future? Very possibly. MORNING READ Arlette Bashizi/Reuters The deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving fast, raising fears that it could expand into the territory held by the powerful militia M23. Officials say a full-scale outbreak in M23-controlled areas would be devastating for civilians trapped by the fighting and the virus. But it may also present an opportunity for the rebels. If M23 manages to contain Ebola, it could bolster the image it has cultivated as a legitimate authority, at a time when the Congolese government is struggling to control the outbreak. Read more. AROUND THE WORLD Dominic Whisson for The New York Times Now showing at a hospital near you The nonprofit MediCinema runs movie theaters inside hospitals around Britain. The audience at a recent screening of “Toy Story 5” included a woman waiting to give birth, a 4-year-old with an autoimmune condition and a 71-year-old with a bone condition whose youngest son had come to watch the movie with her. “Sometimes when you’re in hospital, patients lose their sense of identity,” one nurse said. “But when they come here they can be themselves.” Read more about the program — and the only movie genre it tends to avoid. RECIPE Rikki Snyder for The New York Times Monkey bread is a hybrid of several classic treats: sticky buns, cinnamon rolls and a Hungarian coffee cake called aranygaluska. Since it rises high in a Bundt pan, the presentation is pretty spectacular. You can slice it, but it’s more fun to just put it on the table, sit down and invite your guests to pull it apart. WHERE IS THIS? Where are these berry fields? Huelva, Spain Pajaro Valley, Calif. Western Cape, South Africa Alentejo, Portugal BEFORE YOU GO … A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of positive feedback in motivating people. Many of you, my lovely, brilliant readers, responded by sending me lots of feedback — most of it positive, some negative (or constructive, I should say). I appreciate all of it, so thank you. We do listen. I used to open every newsletter with a cheerful Good morning, world! That exclamation mark was intended to capture something about my personality and how I interact with people. But on days when the news was dark, many of you found it jarring. So we switched to a full stop. I also had a lot of requests for an audio version of the newsletter. It took a bit of time, but last month, we finally got there. You can now listen to it in the web version, which you can find on my byline page. Let us know how you find the experience. Finally, the most frequent request we received was that we remove the name of the photographer under the “Where is this?” quiz. As you rightly pointed out, the name could be a giveaway. Well, we got rid of it. So keep the feedback coming! Now for my weekly song. Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh pop singer, died this week. She produced a range of rousing ’80s anthems. But nothing is quite as stirring as “Holding Out for a Hero.” Have a great weekend. — Katrin TIME TO PLAY Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here. We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at theworld@nytimes.com. Host: Katrin Bennhold Editor: Alicia Wittmeyer News Editors: Desiree Ibekwe, Carole Landry Associate Staff Editor: Parin Behrooz Photo Editor: Eli Cohen Deputy International Editor: Adam Pasick If you received this newsletter from someone else, subscribe here. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for The World from The New York Times. To stop receiving The World, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018